Rumors say ghosts walk among us at WSU

In residence halls, doors mysteriously open, a creepy ghoulish man stares at railroad tracks

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JENIN REYES | EVERGREEN PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

It’s rumored that spirits lurk around campus just as students do, but we don’t see them as often.

FRANKIE SY, Evergreen columnist

As the spookiness of the season creeps upon us, it is said that spirits rise from the dead and embark on their journey to the afterlife. Many believe spirits walk among people, but being close to a place that’s supposedly haunted leaves its own unique and eerie feeling.

WSU has its own history of deaths behind the silly ghost legends spread between people in Pullman. It’s up to you if you choose to believe that it’s all in your head or real, said Shaelynn Erickson, a current resident of Regents Hall.

Erickson blamed gravity when her roommate’s Post-its random­ly fell, but things got weirder.

“Then [her] drawers and closet doors would sometimes squeak open,” she said.

When her roommate read the story of a girl committing suicide on her same floor of Regents Hall during the 1970s, these odd occurrences in her room became even creepier.

“I believe that sometimes in the room it’s a ghost, [and] she’s just trying to hang out and be a part of us,” she said.

However, even when it’s not October, some people still find the ghostly events to be just as creepy. Another suicidal incident took place in 1970s not far from Regents in Streit-Perham Hall.

Eighteen-year-old John Stickney came to see his girl­friend, who lived on the fifth floor of Perham, after they broke up. He either had a bomb or dynamite strapped to his chest and threatened his girlfriend to get back together with him. Stickney was killed when the explosives detonated and five people were injured.

The aftermath can still be rec­ognized years later because half of the rooms on that floor where the bombing took place have dif­ferent furniture compared to the rest of the residence hall.

Gabrielle Godlewski, the fifth floor resident adviser for Perham, suspected odd occur­rences before knowing the entire story.

“I got weird feelings, espe­cially when I lived here alone,” Godlewski said.

She said she would hear people walking throughout the hall and moving things in the floor above her. Godlewski assumed it was the RA of that floor, but he hadn’t moved in yet. Additionally, she said doors seem to mysteriously open.

Unlike Regents and Perham, the ghost of Orton Hall has its own ghoulish behaviors beyond scaring its residents with squeaky drawers. The ghost, Railroad Sam, has been seen standing on the 12th floor of Orton Hall. Sam earned his name because it is said that when he appears, he’s looking at the railroad tracks. Sam’s true identity remains unknown.

At first glance, WSU seems void of any hauntings, but with enough digging you can discover an interesting and dark history about our university. You may even meet a ghost or two.